This invention relates to a wire catch for a baler comprising an elongated wire catch body having between a fixed end and a free end thereof a recess in which is suspended a wheel having an axis of rotation directed substantially transverse to the centreline of the wire catch body, while the recess on the side of the free end is closed and bounded by a portion of the wire catch body that screens the wheel and on the side of the fixed end comprises a first guide surface joining a circumferential portion of the wheel facing the fixed end, a second guide surface being provided opposite the first guide surface, said first and second guide surfaces converging in the direction of the free end of the wire catch body.
Such wire catches are known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,092,913 and German patent applications 24 60 464 and 35 44 773 and intended for pulling a tie wire towards an oppositely arranged tie wire, whereafter the tie wires can be twisted together. Typically, the wire catches are mounted by their fixed end on an operating rod, by means of which the wire catches can be passed through grooves in a baling head that is in abutment with a compressed bale (for instance from used paper or harvested material), and retracted for engaging and pulling a loop of the wire.
The free end of the wire catch body is designed to push away any compressed material bulging into the grooves as the wire catch body is moved towards the opposite wire. The guide surfaces converging in the direction of the free end of the wire catch body are designed to cause the opposite wire to be hooked in the recess and guided towards the wheel as the wire catch is retracted after it has been moved past this opposite wire.
A drawback of the prior art wire catches is that as the wire catch is retracted, material accumulates between the guide surfaces, with the result that the wire is prevented from hooking in the recess, or material sticks to the bearing surface of the wheel, so that the wheel jams.
The object of the invention is to provide a wire catch in which this drawback is overcome.